Well...since Playboy's on holiday's...
From my dealings with various government agencies; I have come to the conclusion Cambodia is becoming increasingly beaurocratic and is creating more administrative tasks; many government staff are also quite dogmatic and I find their flexibility to be decreasing. Why is it that every task now two weeks to do when it was be done quicker before?
Normally a reasonable level of administrative process is a good thing - the government needs information to function correctly and should have adequate accountability structures; however Cambodia's beaurocracy is inefficient and under resourced both financially and technologically; the inefficiencies in the system are having an adverse effect in attracting business. It is extremely difficult at times to get information; particularly on how to fulfil government requirements. If Cambodia wants to attract foreign investors it needs to streamline its bearocracy; not create more of it.
There is good reason the forests are being felled at an alarming rate - the amount of paperwork required in any dealings with the RGC is staggering.
Many Ministry's of the RGC have no central databases; and there seems to be very little information sharing both on the internal level between departments; and externally between various Ministries. Cambodia desperately needs a large scale deployment of information technology. Maybe all the international organizations are helping to slow the beaurocracy down?
Since I work for a small INGO; I will give an example. A recent application to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the issue of a letter to the Department of Transport - needed for an ONG vehicle registration plate - contained 18 separate pieces of paper (plus the manditory folder)! This is their own requirements; however the application contains copies of documents already held by the Ministry. One can only wonder at the size of the filing cabinets down there. The fact you must consistently submit the same documents over and over with various applications suggests a lack of information sharing or access; not to mention stamp this; stamp that…I digress a little. On a recent dealing with a certain government department I was staggered when they asked for more information on a report; the last report template issued by them was one page long; and all previously subitted reports based on that template were accepted; yet now they want many more pages and there are no guidelines on exactly what information they want; bear in mind this is a quarterly activity statement and not intended to be a thourough evaluation. So why the need for more work? If you can accurately summarize all info on two pages why not do that? The fact is Ministry staff rarely read the reports anyhow (and may not understand terms used in the reports for that matter); they are mainly concerned with financial reporting - in fact the director was busy playing Solitaire when I handed in the report. I've personally witnessed reports go straight into a filing cabinet without being read; maybe they get points for the biggest filing cabinet.
So who started this trend for huge reports? Why the need for so much paper; surely accuracy and simplicity are sufficient; why say something in 100 words when 20 will suffice? I think some of those hired report writers and consultants have been justifying their jobs with loads of data; now the RGC expects it from everyone. Sadly; most organizations need to employ people to handle administative workloads; money that could be otherwise better spent.
Maybe some international donors need to help streamline this country's beaurocratic processes instead of contributing to the problems. Large scale IT deployment would be helpful.
Anyone else experiencing the same?
Paperwork Mainstreaming Participatory Workshop for NGO's
- Doctor Seuss
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- Jacked Camry
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Allow me to explain. When the new government was finally formed after over a year of stalemate, several new Secretaries-of-State, Under-SOS, Directors-General etc. were put in place in each Ministry as a reward for supporting various political factions. These highly qualified individuals now are looking for recompense for their efforts to achieve the lofty status they have attained. The best way to do so without blatantly asking for a kicker is to return paperwork for a revision. Again. And again. And again...Me Again wrote:From my dealings with various government agencies; I have come to the conclusion Cambodia is becoming increasingly beaurocratic and is creating more administrative tasks; many government staff are also quite dogmatic and I find their flexibility to be decreasing. Why is it that every task now two weeks to do when it was be done quicker before?
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So they have the largest number of government workers in proportion to population? That would mean that the population is more heavily represented by the government than anywhere else. You don't think that having enough politicians to represent your views is a good thing? The more the merrier.CamSoze wrote: But Cambodia does have the LARGEST government in the world per capita. .
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Is this a response to my post or the initial one? If it is to mine, then kindly indicate if you feel that my answer is not representative of the actual situation currently.The other side wrote:Yes, of course, Cambodia has a beurocratic system so that has to be down to corruption. Becuase of course most countries have so much less paperwork, and the UN only writes twice as many reports and proposals that don't get followed up on.
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It was a response to Camsoze, as is this:Jacked Camry wrote: Is this a response to my post or the initial one?
To say that "Politicians are universally useless and self-righteous, therefore it's just a huge waste of money to have that many people sign a few contracts, and skim off money wherever they can" is a statement which reprasents everything i see as being wrong with your way of thinking. For one, it's a huge and unfounded generalisation. There are many politicians in the world who are doing/trying to do a great job. The problem is that that world is not ever going to be a 100% perfect place, and that governments will always take a huge amount of unfair blame for this. And even if you were right, you should still play along so that you might stand a chance of changing things. You can't change power until you have power.
I said this before and i'll say it again: I said this before and i'll say it again:I said this before and i'll say it again:I said this before and i'll say it again:I said this before and i'll say it again:I said this before and i'll say it again:I said this before and i'll say it again:I said this before and i'll say it again:I said this before and i'll say it again:I said this before and i'll say it again:I said this before and i'll say it again:I said this before and i'll say it again:I said this before and i'll say it again:I said this before and i'll say it again:I said this before and i'll say it again:I said this before and i'll say it again:I said this before and i'll say it again:I said this before and i'll say it again:I said this before and i'll say it again:I said this before and i'll say it again:I said this before and i'll say it again: In a world where so few people are content with what they have and how they live, we have to ask if the problem really lies with the state of the world, or the minds of the majority who live in it.
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Before you go and complain about dealing with government agencies, you should try WORKING in one.
EXAMPLE 1: Prevarication
WESTERN BUREAUCRAT: I think I should call to organise a meeting with the new consultant.
KHMER BUREAUCRAT: Write me a policy plan and I'll consider the option.
EXAMPLE 2: Rorts
WESTERN BUREAUCRAT: I think I should call to organise a meeting with the new consultant.
KHMER BUREAUCRAT: I'll go if we get paid per diems!
EXAMPLE 3: Cronyism
WESTERN BUREAUCRAT: I think I should call to organise a meeting with the new consultant.
KHMER BUREAUCRAT: I'll go if we get paid per diems, and I'll bring my brother/son/nephew etc, etc, if they can get a per diem too.
EXAMPLE 1: Prevarication
WESTERN BUREAUCRAT: I think I should call to organise a meeting with the new consultant.
KHMER BUREAUCRAT: Write me a policy plan and I'll consider the option.
EXAMPLE 2: Rorts
WESTERN BUREAUCRAT: I think I should call to organise a meeting with the new consultant.
KHMER BUREAUCRAT: I'll go if we get paid per diems!
EXAMPLE 3: Cronyism
WESTERN BUREAUCRAT: I think I should call to organise a meeting with the new consultant.
KHMER BUREAUCRAT: I'll go if we get paid per diems, and I'll bring my brother/son/nephew etc, etc, if they can get a per diem too.
- Playboy
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I do !Matty Ramone wrote:Before you go and complain about dealing with government agencies, you should try WORKING in one.
Matty you might think that the Ministry of Health is bad, but you should try working for the Ministry of Agriculture, Farms and Fishers !?!?!
"I will go if I get a per diem, also we will claim the per diem for the two barang that work with us but did not go to the meeting, then we can split it between us as well."
"We, the sons of John Company, have arrived"
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